Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I spent the better part of today trying to decide if I was going to include the photo with this post. I obviously decided TO include it.......I suppose to make a point. Which in fact makes me no better than the person who originally posted this photo on the web with the story about the bus crash. Maybe I like to think that my point is better or on a higher moral ground than his point - I don't know. But I decided to post it to MAKE my point, and for that I'd like to start off with an apology to all of the parents who are grieving for their loss because of this bus crash - and the parents whose worlds have been blown apart and still have their children who are still in the hospital. I'm sorry for putting this picture out here again......and I hope that none of you actually hit this page (odds of this - very small in my estimate). This photo was apparently taken by a Bryan Bacon of the Huntsville Times....and I'm sure he's not a bad guy but I DO have an issue with his picture even though I know he's just a guy doing his thing.....he's a photographer.Photographing......But now I'd like to get the point of my post.

First of all, do you see these police officers rushing toward the camera in rage - screaming at you? That means GET AWAY! You see, these police officers are here to PROTECT AND SERVE. And this includes when we're dead. They're here to protect the bodies of those who are dead from being disrespected, to protect their parents from seeing too much of the horror, and to make sure that only the appropriate emergency response personnel get through. If you aren't helping, then you are in the way. It doesn't look to me like you are helping. It looks to me like you are taking THREE PEOPLE off of the task of rescue so that they can chase you away.

Secondly, see those legs and crumbled bodies lying under the bus? They're people's CHILDREN. These were their parents hopes and dreams embodies in flesh and blood. They learned to walk when they were one. They learned A for Apple, B for Bird C for Cat. The sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and they cried when pets died, including goldfish. When they grew up they cried because other kids were mean to them and thought that they weren't pretty because boy X or Y didn't like them, but in fact they were probably all pretty. These aren't just statistics, they were people who smiled and loved and probably hated some things too.

I appreciate free speech, I appreciate the right of the public to KNOW. But did I really need to know HOW it looked with the bodies crumbled up beneath it? Because, you see, I pretty much got the picture from the original shot I saw, with the bodies removed. I think everyone got the picture - it was a bad wreck. It was a terrible tragedy.

Does the right to free speech supersede the rights of dignity, of compassion?Because I didn't feel enlightened or better informed by this picture. I just felt horror.

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comments:

Oh man, if my kids weren't all sleeping I would go and scoop them up and hug them a little tighter right now. Those poor, poor families. I agree that the photographer could have taken photos that showed the crash without showing the actual bodies. There has to be a line between reporting the news and invading someone's privacy like that. So sad.

It's not the photographer's decision about what photographs get published (unless he posted this on his own Web site). It's up to the newspaper's editors. Here's their contact info: http://www.al.com/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?contact.html

That is terribly sad. My heart goes out to all of the people involved in this tragedy. I hadn't really seen that much on the crash. I'd heard about it, but since I don't have cable, i rarely watch tv anymore.